Page:House of Atreus 2nd ed (1889).djvu/69

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Even now, and in far other tone,

Troy chants her dirge of mighty moan,

Woe upon Paris, woe and hate!

Who wooed his country's doom for mate—

This is the burthen of the groan,

Wherewith she wails disconsolate

The blood, so many of her own

Have poured in vain, to fend her fate;

Troy! thou hast fed and freed to roam

A lion-cub within thy home!

A suckling creature, newly ta'en

From mother's teat, still fully fain

Of nursing care; and oft caressed,

Within the arms, upon the breast,

Even as an infant, has it lain;

Or fawns, and licks, by hunger pressed,

The hand that will assuage its pain;

In life's young dawn, a well-loved guest,

A fondling for the children's play,

A joy unto the old and gray.

But waxing time and growth betrays

The blood-thirst of the lion-race,

And for the house's fostering care,

Unbidden all it revels there,

And bloody recompense repays—

Rent flesh of kine, its talons tare:

A mighty beast, that slays, and slays,

And mars with blood the household fair,

A God-sent pest invincible,

A minister of fate and hell.

Even so to Ilion's city came by stealth

A spirit as of windless seas and skies,